Looting in Georgia a couple of years ago. Form the SGA website.Spike TV is planning a show where a group of people, commanded by Randy Savage, I believe, go around to historics sites around the U.S., dig up artifacts, tell us how important they are to history, and then sell them. This is reality TV taken to a new low. I feel that most reality TV is pretty much a waste of time but this is a waste of our cultural resources and justifies the actions of thousands of looters already out there and probably would encourage others that looting is OK.

This show, as advertised by Spike TV (http://aroundthenetworks.com/spike-tv-announces-unscripted-show-american-digger/), will follow a team "led by former professional wrestler-turned-modern- day relic hunter Ric Savage as they scour ... battlefields and historic sites, in hopes of striking it rich by unearthing and selling rare pieces of American history."

"American Diggers," as described, encourages and glorifies looting and the antiquities trade at the expense of American history. Although the items pilfered by the team are acknowledged to have "great historical and cultural significance," these items are sold for individual profit.

Simply plucking valuable historical items from the ground removes these items from their context. If excavated systematically by a team of trained archaeologists these sites could prove invaluable to our cultural history. The team and Spike TV are clearly more interested in turning a quick profit than in history and education, but by glorifying these irresposible actions they are encouraging the public to follow suit.----------------

Sincerely,

[Your name]

Here is an article by Tom Gresham on the Society for Georgia Archaeology website about fines for looting handed down a few years ago: